The Microscope

The Greg Valentine vs. Ron Garvin submission match discussion over at the 1990 yearbook thread got me thinking about Greg Valentine. Actually, it got me thinking about how aware I am of Greg Valentine, but how little I know about him. I feel like I've seen a fair amount of Valentine matches, but none really stand out as either good or horrendous with the exception of the dog collar match at the first Starrcade. I also feel like Valentine's name gets brought up in discusions fairly often, but never in-depth. Valentine was in the WWF when I was growing up -- I even own his rubberized action figure -- but I don't even really have many nostalgic memories of Valentin…

Female worker that doesn't get talked about enough. Great unique moveset with the combo of headbutt variations and shootstyle submissions including the awesome Imada triangle choke. What matches do I need to see? Anything from her run that is considered a "highlight"? Seems like she was midcarder for life while occasionally playing tag partner for Chigusa and other old timerettes. I've really enjoyed her vs. Hyuga, Yoshida, Mizunami, Kana, Ran Yu Yu, AKINO, Chikayo Nagashima, and her vs. Aja Kong is on my to watch list. Also apparently she teamed with Hiromi Yagi was Masked Angel Freia which is total dream matchup. Apparently, only two of her singles matches vs. M…

I was always a fan of Norton as a kid, mostly because if he was on TV, he was going to be murdering dudes and bouncing. He was huge and scary and had an awesome move set for Revenge. Over the years of actually covering wrestling, I've come to develop a great appreciation for him. Not only was he an incredible bruiser with wonderful powermoves, but he tried so hard with his bumping and selling, going way beyond the level of a normal guy his size, and often his own talent levels. He was so earnest in his attempts that he could be a genuinely sympathetic FIP while being a barrel chested monster who could snap people in half. His work, particularly from around 1992-1997, …

I've threatened to do this before, so here it is. A thread dedicated to the stepbrother of Joe and Dean Malenko, the man who came from the street and became someone who made his living hitting the mat hard and tossing the fuck out of japanese guys. I like any guy who wrestles like that and Greco is such a fascinating worker by being both extremely polished and some kind of measuring stick for his opponents too. He has thrived in obscurity, so his career merits studying. Note: this thread will not be about discovering 5* classics or psychological masterpieces. That is for other, lesser wrestlers. Carl Greco vs. Super Rider (BattlARTS 4/17/2001) This is a B-Rule…

I rewatched the Powers of Pain vs. Rockers MSG 1/15/90 match again last night and think it may be the best WWF tag match from 1985-1995. However, while watching it sort of struck me as to whether this match being great was a result of the Rocker's WWF formula being perfected or them actually adapting to really play up the POP strengths in a way no other teams did. As a result, I decided to do a huge revisit on the Rockers WWF stuff on the P2B board and figured I could cross reference my reviews here.

Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel vs Red Bastien & The Crusher (11/20/71) This is from Chicago at the Amphitheatre, Luce tape with Luce on commentary. Faces work over Bock to start. Stevens tags in and does the same. Essentially Bock and Stevens have just been stooging for Crusher for three minutes. Eventually the transition comes and double team the Crusher. Doesn't last long though and soon he's punching out Bock. Slams his head on the mat. Double noggin knocker. Luce is going on about how The Crusher loved pizza! Must have been clipped to death this, but the Crusher looked terrible even in 71. Didn't really see a whole lot of Bock and Stevens, just some s…

Tully Blanchard vs. Carlos Colon (1989?) Here's Tully vs. the man of the hour, Carlos Colon. Youtube has a pretty cool clip of these two grappling in North Carolina, but this is a title match from Puerto Rico. Pretty decent match, though definitely not in the epic category. It's more a case of Tully's schtick meets Colon's schtick more than anything else, and after watching the Hansen/Colon feud I think I've already figured out Colon's schtick. The match moves in and out of the ring a lot, which leads to some dead passages, and there's some weak spots with the ref towards the end, including the finish, but the basic brawling is entertaining enough. I'm not sure if it …

Yeah I want to do one for Valentine too and I've got another side project I'm working on, but with the AWA Set out and people enjoying their matches, I really want to do a big results thread for them. It may be slower moving than the Blackwell/Patera stuff, but they are certainly a team that deserves more credit. Before I get to the results stuff I'll note two things that I found interesting about the Flyers. The first is that they actually won a PWI tag team of the year award in 1982 and finished in the top four three other times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling...eam_of_the_Year I know people will scoff at this, but it's important to reme…

So in the High Flyers thread, I casually tossed out that match ranked among my favorite Road Warrior matches of all time. Then I realized I couldnt really think of any Road Warriors matches I really liked. So it is time to go back let myself reevaluate the Roadies' body of work. The Road Warriors vs Stan Hansen & Harley Race (Florida, 1985) When I saw this on the marquee, I knew I just had to see it. Could Stan Hansen make the Road Warriors sell? Unlike Greg Gagne, Stan Hansen was largely unsuccessful in making the Road Warriors sell. This match was quite the clusterfuck and never really found a rhythm. Hansen goes all "Leroy Jenkins" on poor Harley and runs…

In the Women in the WWE thread, Badlittlekitten keeps stating that all divas are worst than The Miz (except Sasha). What does everybody else think?

He kind of sucked, right? Outshadowed in every partnership he's been (E&C, Edge/Rey, Edge/Lita, Rated RKO, Edge/Vickie, Edge/Jericho), inability to be good outside of gimmick matches, frequently injured, consistently overpushed his entire career, basically killed Smackdown for a decade after his terrible terrible La Familia run, promos ranged from horrible comedy (watch the 2000/2001 era stuff, it's absolutely brutal, pun intended) to overwrought crazy/serious which meant he'd pull his hair and shake. He's been pushed SO hard as a top level WWE legend since he retired since anyone who retires or dies prematurely gets martyred. In the end, he's about the most groa…

I freely admit to only really paying attention to WWE PPVs and not watching any of the weekly TV. Leading up to WrestleMania there was a very heavy "Roman Reigns sucks" sentiment that I didn't quite understand. After WrestleMania I REALLY didn't get it and even though the Reigns hate has died down I wanted to go through some of his TV matches to see whether the criticism matched up to the work. vs. Mark Henry - Raw 2/17/14 Super short match. The biggest takeaway from this is that Reigns was doing some goofy Edge like faces in the corner while setting up for the Superman Punch & the Spear that he seems to have toned way down. Also it seems like they have broken…

Here's a question spefically aimed at Matt D (of course others who share his viewing habits and opinion can answer it too)-why is it that what Ultimo Guerrero does is dismissed because of its repetition and lack of variation when there is a specific wrestler you hold in high acclaim and consider one of the best ever that does exactly the same thing (yes, you guessed correctly and no, please don't go down THAT road again, we've had enough of Flaiir discussions for three lifetimes)? What's the difference? I don't really see it beyond the material they use, the crowds they perform in front and the length of the matches. The symbolism is the same.

This is probably going to be a very short thread, but I just watched a match of his against Jerry Lawler from 2000 and genuinely wondered if he's ever had a good match. I'm sure he's had some that are fine, but good? I'm not saying he hasn't, just asking because I can't really recall a single notable thing in his career, yet he's been a fixture in major promotions for going on two decades.

is this one of the worst runs ever? I tolerated his work before the parasailing incident but when he came back everything was just one steaming pile of crap after another which was his worst gimmick? is there a worst big PPV championship match than him vs Hogan at Starrcade 94? how long did it take you to work out it was him as the Disciple? anyone ever encounter the man in the flesh? he has a horrible reputation form what Ive gleaned online Terry doesnt even return his calls now

Some discussion about the Beast from the East began cluttering up an unrelated thread, so, here's a dedicated one. What's the current consensus on Bigelow's ECW tenure? I remember it pretty fondly, with Bam Bam carrying guys like RVD and Taz to long competitive matches which didn't suck. Also thought that the November 2 Remember match against Douglas was an underrated gem, which really had the proper Big Epic Battle feel. But everywhere else, yeah, BBB never seemed to accomplish much. He could occasionally pull out a miracle like the Lawrence Taylor match, but most of the time he seemed like a plodding dude with lots of rest holds and light o…

Flair is as close to universally praised as the greatest of all time, by those in the industry, and fans. But he's clearly not. I would argue that not only is he not great, at times he wasn't even good, and I'll explain. 1. Severely limited in the ring I don't mean from a move set perspective (although that is part of it), but from a match structure standpoint. Ric Flair could only do one match: The Ric Flair match. I'm sure we're all very familiar with it and could probably write it out spot for spot in order, because he had that match with everyone. That same match could plug in Terry Taylor, Hulk Hogan, El Gigante, Rey Mysterio, Sting, DDP, Ron Garvin, or Ricky…

I've seen his name mentioned a few times today, particularly in comparison with Cena. When looking back on it, Batista really didn't have a bad run at all. He was the WWE's #2 face. He was good as a baby face power wrestler and is probably what WWE wishes Roman Reigns could be. He had the look, he had a little bit of charisma to him and while not a classic worker by any means, he was good enough. What's everyone's thoughts on Batista?

Listening to the Wrestling Culture pod, I was interested by Dylan's claim that HHH is "average". Considering he has more experience of main events and "big matches" than A LOT of guys who have big reps from the 80s, I was wondering how far Dylan would push this claim and on what basis. What follows is a list of guys, mainly from the 80s, I want to see how Dylan rates HHH vs. each of them. Not in terms of "peak year" but simply in terms of work (or "total package", including promos etc., depending on how far he wants to take it) Rick Rude Dino Bravo Greg Valentine Ronnie Garvin Curt Hennig Brian Pillman Paul Orndorff Roddy Piper Rick Martel Barr…

Never started a thread here before about one wrestler, but would love to know everyone's thoughts on the "Villian" Marty Scurll, to me the guy does everything right that's linked to being a "Villian". Maybe he won't be on the level of Ospreay and Sabre for in ring talent from the British Isles but someone who can be a week to week star I think he's got it. Your opinions are welcome...

I'm not sure how frequently I'll do this or how far I'll get but I am going to watch some Noah. I have seen >5 Noah matches and could not tell you what they were if you asked. Except for Marifuji vs Taue. I'm pretty sure that was Noah. Young GOTNW has sent me a list of things he thinks I'd like. I'll do a write up, include my real time notes in a spoiler tag (probably best not to read those), and then conclude with a 1-5 Noahs ranking based on the following criteria solely: "How glad am I that I saw this match?" Don't look at them like star ratings. They're not. Let's begin. Kenta Kobashi vs Masao Inoue - 3/1/2009 This felt like Jerry Lawler returning …

This is Progress! Hello Wrestling fans , this is a topic created and geared towards the On Demand service provided by Progress Wrestling in England. I want to create discussion and awareness of this fantastic service that provides great wrestling of all styles! Some of the best new talent have made a name for themselves here and some of the best matches on the planet in the past couple years have come from performers such as Will Osprey , Marty Scurll , Tommy End , Jimmy Havok and many others! The service has every major show it has ever ran. The shows are setup in Chapters and each chapter has a unique name for each show. It's a very creative company with lots of potenti…

I'd like to know what PWO thinks of this match-up. Use any criteria you see fit to justify your selection. I'm really curious in regards to who y'all feel is better in terms of career output in-ring.

Sean Carr is on the rise on the independents having won many heavyweight championships including 2CW and ECWA Heavyweight Championships. He's been in the ring with the likes of ECIII, John Morrison and Sami Callihan. I think it's time that everyone knows the name... Sean Carr. He'll likely be in the ROH Top Prospects Tournament, which should have happened this past year. https://wrestlingrecaps.com/2016/11/30/you-should-know-the-name-sean-carr/

So, I think Kiyoshi Tamura is awesome, but I’m not really sure just how awesome. My knee jerk reaction over the years has always been that I think Volk Han is better and I always liked Maeda more even while recognizing that Tamura was probably better. And after watching a shit load of Fujiwara I would comfortably call him the best shoot style worker. But I’ve been thinking about Tamura recently. He’s an interesting wrestler to think about for the GWE poll because he didn’t wrestle 100s of matches per year, didn’t travel internationally, and only worked one (very) niche style (albeit a style most people consider extremely difficult) but is universally considered a master o…